Modern Ingleside
by AvonleaBlythe
Summary: The Blythe's in modern day. Focused on Joy Blythe.
1. Character Analysis

Modern Ingleside

 **While this story revolves mostly around Joy Blythe, several characters will have their own sub plots throughout. I'll be adding to this list so that we can all keep everyone straight. :)**

 **The Blythe Family**

Dr. Gilbert Blythe: OBGYN.

Mrs. Anne Blythe: High School English and Drama teacher

Joy: Joyce Elaine Blythe: 15 years old. Red-blonde hair, green eyes. Typical oldest child: smart, sassy, and sweet.

Jem: James Matthew Blythe: 14 years old. Auburn hair, brown eyes. Quick witted. Charming. Mischievous. Wants to be a doctor like his dad.

Walt: Walter Cuthbert Blythe: 12 years old. Dark brown hair. Quiet. Thoughtful. A very good writer for his age.

Nan: Anne Elizabeth Blythe: 10 years old. Anne's mini me.

Di: Diana Noelle Blythe: 10 years old. Practical like Gil. Slightly tom-boyish.

Nic: Dominic Shirley John Blythe: 8 years old. Anne's little brown boy.

Rilla: Bertha Marilla Blythe: 7 years old. The Blythe Baby


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

"Joy Blythe!"

At the sound of her name, Joy flipped her red blonde hair around to see her best friend Alyssa Stanley run up.

"Alyssa!" Joy squealed. "How was Cape Code?"

"Awesome as usual," Alyssa said giving her a hug. "I can't believe it's already school orientation day. Summer went by so fast."

"Agreed," Joy said. The two chattered as they walked to the registration line.

"Miss Blythe, good to see you back," Mr. Peters, one of the academic counselors, said as he handed her the information packet. Joy thanked him, stepped aside and waited for Alyssa before tearing into the packet.

"Home room, 10A?" Joy asked.

"Me too! What's your schedule?"

"Home room, Biology, History, French, Geometry, English-" Joy stopped midway. "Aw man! I have my mom!"

Alyssa giggled. "That's not a bad thing. She's the best English teacher here. Everyone says so."

"My mom is like my best friend. But she's going to be my teacher. That's just totally weird."

"Well, don't be such a smarty pants. You wouldn't have ended up in honors English."

"Oh stop." Joy said lightly hitting her friend. "Let's get our textbook list."

"Couldn't you have switched to teaching a different English class?" Joy asked as she helped her mother clean up her homeroom. Anne Blythe stopped wiping the chalkboard and looked at her young daughter. It was situations like this one that made it hard teaching at a private academy. Smaller classes and the high chances of having to teach your children in your own classroom.

"For the tenth time, Joy, I tried." Anne sighed. "Look, I know it's going to be a little strange at first, but it'll be fine. I promise." Joy gave her "that" look. "I won't treat you any different. And if I do, just tell me at home."

"Mom, why do you have to be such a great English teacher?" Joy whined.

"Joy, why do you have to be such a great student?" Anne whined back, teasing.

Joy laughed. "Well, I could purposely fail out."

"Don't you dare even think about it, Joyce Elaine!" Anne said. "I may be your teacher, but mom rules still apply when it comes to failing grades." She had no worries about Joy. Joy had always been the one to apply herself and Anne and Gilbert were constantly pulling her away from her studies. She had both the Shirley gumption and the Blythe stubbornness.

"Mom!" Jem, Anne and Gilbert's second oldest child, called as he flung the classroom door open. "I got the rest of 'em. Dad had to run out and deliver another baby. He said to check your texts." And behind him, Walt, Nan, Di, Nic, and Rilla piled through the door chattering.

"Thanks, Jem." Anne gave him a quick side hug. Jem blushed slightly. He was at the age where too much PDA was way embarrassing. He shook his auburn bangs out of his eyes. "Yeah, it's not a problem." Jem was fifteen months younger than his sister Joy. And was he definitely the stereotypical annoying younger brother you couldn't help but love. Out of all of the Blythe children, he gave his parents a run for their money with all the mischief he got into. But, at the same time, Jem had that Blythe charm that could even melt the coldest heart into a puddle of mush.

"Kids! Don't mess up my straight rows! I'm almost done here."

"Mom, can I help wipe the chalkboard?" Di asked.

"Me too!" Nan chimed in. Anne handed her ten-year-old twins a couple of rags and they ran to the other side and started cleaning. Anne and Diana, affectionately known as Nan and Di as not to be confused with their namesakes, were the Ingleside twins. While they had that twin telepathy going on, they couldn't be more different than each other. In looks, Nan had straight nutmeg hair and bright blue eyes while Di had wavy red hair and green eyes. In personalities, Nan was more free-spirited, while Di was very practical. Together, they made a great team and were the most kindred spirits.

Anne looked towards the back corner where Walt was telling the youngest two Blythes, Nic and Rilla, a story. Walter Cuthbert was the storyteller of the family. He shared his mother love for books and words. He was more reserved than the rest of the Blythe's and was the sibling peace maker.

Dominic Shirley John Blythe, or Nic, as the family called him. He was the youngest Blythe boy. Anne affectionately called him their little brown Blythe boy as he was the only one with tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. The story of his name was a unique one. Anne developed a severe illness in which little Nic had to be delivered early. While Anne and Gilbert had been set on Dominic as the first name, his middle name had not been decided.

 _"Anne," Gilbert took Anne's hand in his. "Anne-girl." He sat down in the chair by her bed. She turned her head ever so slightly to look at him._

 _"Is…he…okay?" Anne whispered groggily._

 _"He's fine. He's a little trooper." Gilbert assured her. He kissed the top of Anne's forehead. Anne smiled slightly. "Do we have a middle name?"_

 _"Hm?" Anne was starting to zone out again and was starting to become delirious due to the medication. "Shirley…"_

 _Gilbert strained to hear what Anne was saying. "What?"_

 _"Shirley…"_

 _"Are you sure?" Gilbert asked. While that was Anne's maiden name, Shirley was a woman's name._

 _"John… Blythe." Anne whispered._

 _"Dominic Shirley John_ Blythe. _" Gilbert said to himself with a shrug. Sounded good to him. He wrote something down. "Get some rest,_ Anne girl _. You'll be well soon."_

 _A few days later as Anne was in recovery, she started to look over some of the hospital's paperwork. As she glimpsed through the paperwork, something caught her eye. "Dominic Shirley John Blythe? What!" Anne said to herself. Gilbert happened to walk in as she studied the paper in front of her._

 _"Hello,_ sweetheart. _" Gilbert said. "What's wrong?" He asked looking at Anne's astonished face._

 _"Dominic Shirley John Blythe?" Anne asked._

"That's what you wanted."

"What?"

Gilbert went on to explain what happened. When he finished, Anne didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Why on earth would you ask a severely ill delirious woman to name a baby?" Anne asked her lips quivering with laughter.

"I." Gilbert paused. Why did he ask Anne when she was deeply medicated. "I don't know." Gilbert started to laugh.

"Oh, Gil." Anne sighed. "Shirley is a woman's name!"

"But no one will call him Shirley. Plus it IS a family name." Gilbert tried assuring her.

Anne sighed. She really didn't feel like redoing all of the paperwork. Shirley was a family name. And Dominic Shirley John was starting to have a nice ring to it.

Anne smiled at the faint memory. Thankfully, Nic hadn't given her any grief on having a feminine middle name. At least, not yet. Her eyes rested on her baby, who was now a young girl of seven. Bertha Marilla, or Rilla, was the baby of the Blythe clan. Her ruddy curls seemed to always bounce whenever she moved. She spoke with a slight lisp that she was very self-conscious of and was constantly practicing her speech therapy. Rilla was a little vain for her own good, but it was hard for the rest of the family not to spoil her.

"Mom, we're done!" Di said.

"All right, let's go!" Anne said, packing her books up. The rest of the kids ran out the door. She looked around to make sure that her classroom was ready for the first day of school before turning the lights off.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The first day of school had always traditionally been a chaotic morning for the Blythe's.

"Jem! Pancakes are getting cold!" Anne called.

"Mommy, I can't find my pencil pouch." Rilla said.

"Joy, should I wear my green sweater or blue sweater?" Nan asked.

"Dad, do you think the Leafs will do better this year?" Nic asked.

"Nan, stop changing your outfit, dear. I like the blue sweater." Joy said.

"Jem, stop hogging the bathroom!" Walt said.

"Anne, I need to go. Just got a call that the Fuller's are going into labor." Gilbert said. He stood and managed to work his way around his children to kiss his wife goodbye. "Good luck today."

"It'll be amazing if we get out the door," Anne said.

"We always manage. Love you, Anne girl," Gilbert said. "Bye, kids! Be good!"

The Blythe's made it to school on time—actually, for once, early. Joy was glad as she needed some quiet time to get mentally prepared for classes. She took out _Sense and Sensibility_ and continued to read it.

"What a nerd. Who reads books on the first day of school?" Joy heard a voice from behind her. She turned to see a guy with surfer blonde locks standing behind her.

"What is it to you?" Joy retorted.

"I can _Sense_ you have a lot of _Sensibility_." The guy said edging closer.  
"I'm sorry, was that a little too Austen-tatious of me to say?"

"Who's the nerd now?" Joy said rolling her eyes.

"Nolan Thompson. At your service." He said. "And you are?"

"Not interested." Joy said picking up her bag, thankful that the bell rang. She started to walk away. The guy didn't follow, but as she turned to make sure he wasn't, he winked at her. "Ugh. Guys." Joy walked to her locker and started to grab her books before meeting Alyssa. The girls walked into their homeroom and sat down.

"Who's that guy? He's kinda cute." Alyssa asked looking towards the door. Joy groaned as she saw that it was Nolan walking through the door. Before Joy could say anything, Nolan found his way to where Joy and Alyssa were sitting.

"Well, if it isn't the mysterious _Sense and Sensibility_ girl." Nolan said sitting down.

"Oh, geeze." Joy said.

"You know each other?" Alyssa asked looking at the both of them.

"No." Joy said while Nolan said, "Yes." And thankfully once again, Joy was saved by the bell. She looked at Alyssa and mouthed, "I'll explain later."

Miss Harding, the homeroom teacher, started to take roll. When she called Joy's name, Joy responded "Here." Nolan turned around and winked at her again. Joy decided to ignore him. Maybe he would just leave her alone. And that wasn't the case at all the rest of the day. Turned out that Nolan happened to be in almost every single one of Joy's classes. And with each class, Nolan tried getting her attention and Joy kept ignoring him.

Joy's final class for the day was her mom's English class. _Please, please, please_ _don't be in this class._ Joy walked into the classroom and much to her chagrin, Nolan was in her class and the only empty seat was the one in front of him. Joy begrudgingly sat down.

"Good afternoon, class!" Anne Blythe said walking in. "Let's get started. Take out your literature books and turn to page four." She turned to write a few terms on the chalkboard.

"Hey! Can I borrow a pencil?" Nolan leaned over and hissed.

Joy rolled her eyes and again kept ignoring Nolan.

"No, seriously, I think I forgot my pens and pencils in my locker."

Joy kept ignoring him.

"Hey! Come on, Red!"

Joy had enough. She whipped around and promptly took his three ring binder and slammed it over his head. "First, quit the constant nagging of borrowing my things. Second, if throwing paper wads at my desk and in my hair is your way of flirting, grow up. And finally, do not call me Red!" Joy exclaimed.

The class was in an uproar. Anne, who happened to turn around in time to witness the entire event, was absolutely mortified. _Déjà vu_.

"Joy Blythe!" She said sternly.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault. I was annoying her." Nolan immediately said in Joy's defense.

"Class, quiet!" Anne demanded. The class immediately stopped talking. Anne turned to the two misfits. "Detention. Both of you. See me after class."

Joy was fuming. She didn't necessarily care about the detention. It was the fact that Nolan was the most infuriating boy. Really? He was constantly trying to get her attention in stupid ways and the entire day was being a disruption. And to be called "red" was so embarrassing and humiliating. Her hair wasn't even that red with all of the blonde that was in it! Joy could hardly concentrate on the lesson.

Thankfully for Anne, the lesson was short, and the last fifteen minutes was a writing lab for the class. She was still in shock. She and Gilbert had never told their children about how they met since for whatever reason it had never come up in conversation. Maybe it was because none of the children ever asked for any details. They knew that they grew up together and were constant rivals in school, but the reasons for it were not known. If anything, Anne thought that out of all of their children, Jem would be the one to find himself in these sorts of shenanigans. However, in this instance the apple didn't fall far from the tree and Anne was there to witness the entire thing.

After class, Nolan and Joy walked to Anne's desk. Nolan immediately started talking. "It's my fault. I was annoying her. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't try to slap me earlier today." Nolan tried making a joke which Joy did not find funny. "Anyways, I should be the one punished. Not her."

"I appreciate your apology. However, Joy should not have reacted the way she did. Right?"

"Right." She mumbled. "Can I just sign the slip?" Anne filled out the slips and handed them to both students. Joy quickly signed the slip, took her books and left. Nolan followed after her. "Joy, Joy, wait!"

Anne shook her head and looked up. "Oh, good heavens."

Joy walked, no marched, down the hallway ignoring Nolan. He finally caught up to her. "Look, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry is not going to cut it for being a nuisance, literally, all day! Seriously, grow up!"

"I just," Nolan faltered "wanted to get to know you."

Joy had no sympathy nor was she anywhere near forgiveness.

"Well for starters, take etiquette 101. That'll teach you how to be a real gentleman."

A crowd was starting to form. Nolan turned pink. He wasn't about to let this girl, no matter how beautiful she was, outsmart him.

"Fine. Well, maybe you should take the same class so you can learn to control yourself, Red!"

"And insulting someone because of the way they look is another sign of immaturity. Do not talk to me ever again, Nolan Thompson!"


End file.
